PIA01954: Collage of Saturn's Smaller Satellites
This family portrait shows the smaller satellites of Saturn as viewed by NASA's Voyager 2 during its swing through the Saturnian system.
 Target Name:  Saturn
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Voyager 
 Spacecraft:  Voyager 2
 Instrument:  VG ISS - Narrow Angle 
 Product Size:  750 x 300 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Producer ID:  P24061  
 Addition Date:  1999-04-11 
 Primary Data Set:  Voyager EDRs 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA01954.tif (88.83 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA01954.jpg (11.56 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This family portrait shows the smaller satellites of Saturn as viewed by Voyager 2 during its swing through the Saturnian system. The following chart corresponds to this composite photograph (distance from the planet increases from left to right) and lists names, standard numerical designations and approximate dimensions (radii where indicated) in kilometers:

1980S26

Outer F-ring

shepherd

120 X 100

1980S1

Leading

co-orbital

220 X 160

1980S25

Trailing

Tethys trojan

radii: 25

1980S28

Outer A

shepherd

radii: 20

1980S27

Inner F-ring

co-orbital

145 X 70

1980S3

Trailing

Tethys trojan

140 X 100

1980S13

Leading

Tethys trojan

radii: 30

1980S6

Leading

Dione trojan

radii: 30

These images have been scaled to show the satellites in true relative sizes. This set of small objects ranges in size from small asteroidal scales to nearly the size of Saturn's moon Mimas. They are probably fragments of somewhat larger bodies broken up during the bombardment period that followed accretion of the Saturnian system. Scientists believe they may be mostly icy bodies with a mixture of meteorite rock. They are somewhat less reflective than the larger satellites, suggesting that thermal evolution of the larger moons "cleaned up" their icy surfaces. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
1999-04-11